Panama Caves to Trump’s DC
Despite some gestures at resistance, Panama City seems ready, even eager to comply with American demands.

BY Casey Chalk

When Marco Rubio arrived Saturday in Panama for his first international trip as secretary of state, he was greeted by flags—Panamanian ones. They littered the highways and roads on his route from the airport to downtown Panama City. They were displayed on buildings and streets in Casco Viejo, the historic “old town” where Rubio on February 2 met with President José Raúl Mulino. And they were visible everywhere in such suburbs as Albrook and Clayton, a former neighborhood and fort, respectively, in the previously U.S.-administered Panama Canal Zone.

American corporate media covering the visit viewed the ubiquity of the banners as representative of Panamanian resolve in response to President Donald Trump’s inaugural address threats that the United States might be taking back the canal. The MSNBC foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell reported that “flags [are] being arrayed all across the streets in Panama. It’s not a big holiday here, it’s in defiance of the U.S. and Marco Rubio’s incoming visit.” Jorge Quijano, a former Panama Canal Authority administrator, told Mitchell visible with pride, “Everybody is wearing a flag, I’m wearing a flag.” Perhaps in light of Panama’s lack of a standing military, one might call it a policy of “bandera” (Spanish for “flag”) deterrence.

Yet given the importance of the canal to Panama—it earns the country about $5 billion a year and is the largest contributor to its primarily service sector economy—the reaction to Rubio’s visit was surprisingly muted, with only a couple hundred demonstrators outside the presidential palace. In the days leading up to the visit, there were a few minor protests in the streets; a small demonstration of less than 100 people blocked the U.S. Embassy on Christmas Eve (a day on which the embassy was actually closed because of an executive order by the former President Joe Biden). In January, a small crowd of Panamanians protested outside the residence of the U.S. ambassador and burned an American flag, though, ironically there was no senior diplomat there to witness it—the former Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte, an appointee of the previous administration, had already departed the country.

Not that the Panamanians don’t know how to protest. Beginning in mid-October 2023, Panamanian activists led by a militant leftist labor union brought much of the country to a standstill for more than a month, blocking roads and daily filling the capital with thousands of demonstrators against a copper-mining contract with a Canadian firm. (They got their wish: in late November 2023, the country’s supreme court declared unconstitutional earlier bipartisan legislation that had granted the Canadian firm’s copper mine a 20-year concession.)

What gives? The Panamanians are a (curiously) fiercely patriotic people—they have three separate independence days. They also have two federal holidays commemorating resistance to the U.S. presence in their country: Martyrs’ Day on January 9 to honor those killed during the 1964 anti-American riots over the canal zone, and the National Day of Mourning on December 20 to honor those killed during Operation Just Cause, the 1989 George H.W. Bush–authorized intervention to protect American citizens and overthrow the dictator Manuel Noriega. The most they could muster to counter threats that they might lose their greatest source of national pride to the colonialist gringos was a few trivial protests and thousands of miniature flags?

One would think the content of Rubio’s exchange with Mulino, at least as it was distilled in a brief readout by the Department of State’s spokesperson, did little to temper Panamanian unease. Rubio reportedly told Mulino—who earlier rebuked Trump’s inaugural comments—and Foreign Minister Martínez-Acha that “the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal.” Rubio added that the status quo was “unacceptable” and that absent immediate changes, Washington would “take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.” (Trump later on Sunday told reporters, “We’re going to take it [the canal] back, or something very powerful is going to happen.”)

The respected Panamanian political analyst and former official Italo I. Antinorirecently gave credence to American anxiety regarding the canal, describing the PRC’s decades-long “strategy to exert influence in Latin America.” For example, Antinori noted, China is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to not acknowledge the aforementioned canal treaty. Moreover, in addition to PRC control of ports at the Atlantic and Pacific side of the canal—providing China with strategically useful information on ships transiting the canal—the Panamanian government under Juan Carlos Varela in 2017 switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China (with allegations still haunting Varela that he was bribed to do so). Varela’s government also granted a concession to a consortium formed by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to construct a cruise port on Perico Island, completed in March 2024. 

There are also the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal (contracted to China Communications Construction Company and CHEC) and the underwater metro line tunnel under the canal (contracted to a consortium of South Korean companies but subcontracted to China Railway Tunnel Group). Add to that the construction of a new PRC Embassy in the former canal zone, and it’s not hard to perceive the problem. “If China enters into a war with the United States, it could right now close the passage to ships of the United States Navy at the two entrances of the Canal or they could explode some electronic device that they could have left when making the tunnel under the Panama Canal,” Antinori warns.

Then there are the issues with the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, itself. Assertions of its independence were undermined by widespread local media speculation that Jorge Gonzalez, a member of the ACP Board of Directors, was asked to resign in May 2023 because of a corrupt relationship with a major Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) doing business related to the canal. Even many Panamanians believe that the United States could probably run the canal better than Panama does, as NBC obliquely mentioned in a piece intended to foreground Panamanian resistance to the Trump administration.

Mulino’s government certainly seems to be taking the Trump administration’s warnings seriously. Following his meeting with Rubio, Mulino declared that Panama would not renew the 2017 MoU to join China’s Belt and Road initiative, and suggested he might prematurely end the current agreement with Beijing. And two weeks ago, on the same day as Trump’s inauguration, Panamanian government auditors visited the two canal ports operated by a subsidiary of Hong Kong–based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings to evaluate the company’s compliance with its port concession agreements.

These seem to be goodwill gestures by a relatively new Panamanian administration that is demonstrably more pro-U.S. than its predecessor, signing an MoU with the United States for closing the Darién Gap to illegal migrants immediately after coming into power. The Panamanians claim to be upholding their end of the agreement, with migration through the gap dropping by almost half in 2024. Nevertheless it’s possible more concessions will be demanded of Panama to curtail PRC influence—Trump’s incoming envoy to Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, reportedly suggested the Panamanians offer to allow U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships to transit the canal for free.

It’s unclear what other concessions—short of giving back the canal itself—might be asked of Panama to satisfy concerns about an issue that, incredibly, seems to now have bipartisan consensus as a security concern that will become more acute absent significant countermeasures. (As I noted previously for The American Conservative, there are a total of five PRC SOEs operating along the canal). It’s an ironic turn of events for the country, which just celebrated 25 years since the end of American control over the waterway. But for all the nationalistic bluster of Panama’s bandera deterrence, its leaders—perhaps driven by fear—seem willing to honor Washington’s demand that they more aggressively address the threat posed by the PRC. 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/panamas-bandera-deterrence/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE SINS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME AMERICA.

Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land, the country’s foreign ministry stated on Wednesday, reiterating its “firm and unwavering” commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The comment followed US President Donald Trump’s proposal for an American takeover of Gaza. Speaking at a joint press conference with Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, Trump announced plans for the US to assume control of the enclave, clear the remains of damaged buildings, and transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” He also reiterated his position that Palestinians should be permanently resettled outside of Gaza.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry released a statement that, while not directly addressing Trump’s remarks, appeared to be a response to his proposal.

The ministry said it was reaffirming its “unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”

“Permanent peace” cannot be achieved without Palestinians securing their “legitimate rights” to statehood, it said, and urged more “peace-loving countries to recognize the State of Palestine” based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The ministry stressed that Riyadh would not establish ties with Israel unless this key condition is met, adding that its stance towards the Palestinians is “non-negotiable.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised President Donald Trump for thinking “outside the box” with his proposal for a US takeover of Gaza.

A key element of the proposal involves relocating Gaza’s roughly two million population to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan. Trump asserted that regional leaders supported his plan but did not provide specifics on how the relocation would be carried out.

The idea has drawn widespread criticism in the Middle East and beyond with human rights organizations describing it as a form of ethnic cleansing.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, stated on Wednesday that rather than being relocated to other countries, Palestinians in Gaza should be allowed to reclaim their former homes in what is now Israel.

“For those who want to send” Gazans “to a happy ‘nice place,’” Mansour said, “let them go back, you know, to their original homes inside Israel. There are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places.”

Around 47,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 111,500 wounded during the 15 months of Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the latest data from the enclave’s Health Ministry. UN data suggests that 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the fighting.

Israel launched its military operation in Gaza after a Hamas cross-border raid killed about 1,200 people and 250 others were taken hostage. A US-brokered ceasefire is in place with ongoing prisoner exchanges. Israeli authorities report 79 hostages remain in Gaza, 35 of whom are presumed dead.

https://www.rt.com/news/612211-saudi-arabia-trump-gaza-reaction/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

I watched Trump’s joint press conference with Netanyahu, in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism has been on the march everywhere, but that press conference seemed to herald an age of naked fascism.

So the Palestinians have just been ‘unlucky’ for decades. “Their lives have been made hell.” Thank God for grammar’s indirect speech. Their lives have been made hell. We do not who made their lives hell. Nothing to see here.

Trump says of Gaza “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings – level it out and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area..”. I wonder who are those lucky “people of the area” he has in mind, once those “unlucky” Palestinians have been “transferred” out of their homeland.

Trump speaks of transforming Gaza into a magnificent Riviera of the Middle East. Obviously, the starved amputees of Gaza do not fit his image of the classy people he wants to see in the Riviera he wants to build, on stolen Palestinian land.

After the press conference, I did not hear a single question about ethnic cleansing, genocide, occupation or international law. Under the new fascist leaders, just like under the old ones, those words have become old-fashioned and are to be expunged from the lexicon. The difference has never been more striking between the meek who officially hold the title “journalist” and the brave who actually work to hold the powerful to account. Now, more than ever, independent journalists are a threatened species. We should treasure them, support them and protest every attempt to silence them.

Gaza is now the prototype. We can forget international laws and international organisations. We have the bombs. You do as we wish or you will be obliterated.

Who now dares say that the forced transfer of a population by an occupying power is a war crime under the Geneva Convention? But then again, Trump and Netanyahu are not really talking about “forced transfer”. They are talking about voluntary transfer. Once the remaining Israeli hostages have been freed, and water and food have been cut off again, those unlucky Palestinians will climb voluntarily onto the buses waiting to transport them to happiness and prosperity in Egypt and Jordan. Or to whatever other client state Trump manages to threaten or bribe.

Can the ICC command a shred of respect when Netanyahu is sharing the podium with Trump? Or indeed when Trump is at the podium?

Recently, fascist leaders have been dismantling the international order by accusing its organisations and officials of being “antisemitic” or “working with terrorists”. Tomorrow they will defund and delegitimise these organisations without the need for an excuse.

I listen to Trump speak of combatting antisemitism and deporting Hamas sympathisers and I hear, “We will combat anti-Israel views and we will deport those who protest Israel’s crimes. And we will continue to conflate antisemitism and anti-Israel’s views in order to silence pro-Palestinian voices.”

I watch Trump and Netanyahu, the former reading the thoughts of a real estate developer turned into a president’s speech and the latter grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I am gripped by fear. Not just for the Palestinians, but for all humanity. If we think fascism is only coming for people on a distant shore, we ought to think again. I watch Netanyahu repeating lies that investigative journalists have spent months debunking. Why would he care? The truth about his lies will not make it to mainstream media and the consciousness of the majority of people. And the more he repeats those lies, the more they take hold and endure.

I wonder how our political leaders will spin our allies’ new, illegal and immoral plans. For years, they have clung to the mantra of the two-state solution while Israel continued to make every effort to render this solution unfeasible. What will they say now? With what weasel words will they stay on the same page as our friends in the US and Israel?

Netanyhu praises Trump for thinking outside the box. Here is an idea that Israel has spent billions on arms and propaganda to persuade people that it is dangerously outside the box. Instead of asking Egypt and Jordan to take the Palestinians, why not make Israel end the occupation and give Palestinians equal rights in their own homeland?

https://johnmenadue.com/trumps-plan-for-gaza-heralds-an-age-of-naked-fascism/

TRUMP OR BIDEN ACTION IN GAZA IS/WAS ABOUT FASCISM... THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT UNDER TRUMP, THE PROCESS IS IN FULL BRIGHT LIGHT... UNDER BIDEN, IT WAS HIDEN BEHIND A HYPOCRITICAL VEIL OF CARING, WITH BOMBS.... THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS THAT TRUMP CARES MORE ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE, WHILE BOTH WERE THINKING OF THE OFFSHORE GAS AND OIL. PALESTINIANS? WHERE?....

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.